Seattle Times and Percy Harvin

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Starting a new thread because this is about the journalism side of things ...

The Seattle Times has a pretty detailed report of all the things Percy Harvin did to make the Seahawks have to trade him, including giving a teammate a black eye before the Super Bowl, getting into another fight with a teammate this season, refusing to go back into the Cowboys game, and plenty of others.

http://seattletimes.com/html/seahawks/2024808382_seahawks18xml.html

Maybe readers don't notice and/or don't care, but where were these stories when the things actually happened and Harvin was a member of the team? Seems awful convenient to be able to trot out this long litany of misbehavior and explanation for why he's such a horrible person - after he's been traded.

I'm sure the beat writer was fed plenty of this by the team since yesterday, but it doesn't make the writer look good at all. At best, he was ignorant of all this and is willing to let the team use him as a mouthpiece to explain things. At worst, he knew about it and didn't write it for fear of backlash in the locker room.

 

[Walter Lippmann]

Welcome to Beat Coverage 101.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Unless the beat reporter knowingly sat on all this for all that time, I don't see the problem.

A lot of people have this fantasy that the beat writer knows all and sees all. The reality is that the NFL machine is extraordinarily committed to and good at hiding this stuff.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Unless the beat reporter knowingly sat on all this for all that time, I don't see the problem.

A lot of people have this fantasy that the beat writer knows all and sees all. The reality is that the NFL machine is extraordinarily committed to and good at hiding this stuff.

I don't think he should know ALL of it, but if he's that plugged-in now to have all the sordid details, I don't think it's asking too much for him to be plugged-in enough to have good-enough sources for him to know at least some of it at the time.

 

[LongTimeListener]

He doesnt know it now because he is plugged in. He knows it now because they want him to know it.

 

[Songbird]

Dater's just glad ESPN didn't break the details.

 

[Versatile]

This thread is rather naïve. How in the world does offering a behind-the-scenes look at what led to a big trade make a reporter look bad? You'd hope he at least sought comment from Percy Harvin or his representatives, but it's pretty clear that this story is coming from the team, and it's going to this reporter because he put in the diligence required to get the inside access.

 

[Walter Lippmann]

A bit naive to assume the reporter's diligence led to the scoop.

 

[Versatile]

A bit naive to assume the reporter's diligence led to the scoop.

There are many applicable types of diligence.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Not to impugn the reporter, but that's the kind of story that the beat writer at the biggest paper automatically gets when the team wants to trash its departed star. It was no great feat to disclose that Beckett and Lackey were eating fried chicken in the Red Sox clubhouse either.

 

[Boom_70]

I bet that Bob Kravitz knew all about this.

 

[BDC99]

Not to impugn the reporter, but that's the kind of story that the beat writer at the biggest paper automatically gets when the team wants to trash its departed star.

Yeah, I have to imagine he got this stuff because the Seahawks WANTED him to write it.

 

[DanOregon]

And imagine if it was written when it went down - the beat writer would have been hounded by the team and the fans for being "negative" and a distraction.

 

[BDC99]

And imagine if it was written when it went down - the beat writer would have been hounded by the team and the fans for being "negative" and a distraction.

Well, that should not be a consideration, but the reality is that it very well could have been.

 

[Ace]

And imagine if it was written when it went down - the beat writer would have been hounded by the team and the fans for being "negative" and a distraction.

Well, that should not be a consideration, but the reality is that it very well could have been.

So?

 

[MeanGreenATO]

Anytime you see something like this happen, it always feels like the team is leaking info to justify a move that didn't work out in their favor. Did Harvin magically pick up all these character flaws in Seattle after four years in Minnesota?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

It's not like Harvin's questionable people skills were a secret when he was in Minnesota and Florida. I guess Seahawks' management didn't think saying Harvin's never healthy to contribute what we're paying him for wasn't enough of a rationale to suit the fan base.

 

[Boom_70]

Anytime you see something like this happen, it always feels like the team is leaking info to justify a move that didn't work out in their favor. Did Harvin magically pick up all these character flaws in Seattle after four years in Minnesota?

I think if you followed his body of work in college you would say no.
Harvin has had problems everywhere he's been.

Clearly Seattle is trying to justify trade with these stories. It makes it sound like
Baldwin and Tate were just innocent victims.

One thing for sure is when focused the guy can play.

Outside of the bad snap leading to Bronco safety, Harvin's speed sweep for 30 yds at on Seattle's first series set tone for the game. It opened up everything else that they
were able to do on offense.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Not to impugn the reporter, but that's the kind of story that the beat writer at the biggest paper automatically gets when the team wants to trash its departed star.

Yeah, I have to imagine he got this stuff because the Seahawks WANTED him to write it.

Yeah, that's the way it happens. I think Philly did the same thing last year when they dumped DeSean Jackson. They've denied that, but we'll never know.

A team with a good PR staff knows how to do it. It's a little more complicated when a team has writers from 5-10 different papers covering it, but in most cases, it becomes something the coach/GM refuses to talk about or says very little and then the beat writer gets the team's version of the story off the record later.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Knowing things and knowing things and being able to get someone to confirm them on the record are two different things.